Gidul Yonei Do'ar - An Underground Resistance Book of the Haganah Movement - 1946 - Dozens of Illustrations - ...

Gidul Yonei Do'ar - An Underground Resistance Book of the Haganah Movement - 1946 - Dozens of Illustrations - Extremely Rare
A book in stencil printing: "Gidul Yonei Do'ar". On the first page is printed: "Growing Carrier Pigeons and their use for communication. Instructions for dovecote. Second edition corrected May 1946".
An extremely rare and interesting book. Not listed in the Hebrew Bibliography and not found in libraries in Israel. It is mentioned only briefly, with no additional details in Dan Yahav's book "Ba'alei Chayim B'Sheirut Habitachon Vhahaganah". It can be assumed that only a small number of copies were printed - for the dovecotes in the Haganah organization and this explains its rarity. It is possible that before us is the only existing copy.
The book has sixteen chapters, amongst them: The basics of communication with the help of carrier pigeons; feeding the pigeons; general knowledge on breeding carrier pigeons; training and practicing with the pigeons for communication roles; organizing the communications service by carrier pigeons (in which is a detailed description of the uses of carrier pigeons in modern armies). The book is full of 60 impressive and interesting illustrations of the pigeons, their growing and training, as well as with lists and charts.
The use of pigeons in "The Haganah" began in 1938, and started from the idea of Avraham Etz-Hadar, the pigeon breeder. He met with Yochanan Ratner, who was then the Rama (Chief of Headquarters), and suggested to him to add the carrier pigeons to the communications framework and to allow him to bring suitable pigeons from abroad. Ratner was enthusiastic and brought about the realization of the idea, amongst other things with the help of David Ben Gurion. And so in the years 1938-1948 the use of carrier pigeons was widespread throughout all of Israel. The Haganah had dovecotes in central locations in Israel. In the Jerusalem area the Maki (Machleket Kesher Yonim) was established, with Abraham Etz-Hadar as its commander. In the north, the center and the south Dr Zvi Halevi Levin commanded the carrier pigeon communication. The mandate government understood that the pigeons were "weapons" and forbade their use. Then began the secret use of carrier pigeons by the underground movements. With the outbreak of the Second World War and the activation of emergency laws there was great difficulty in keeping the pigeons. In order to continue the activity a way was found to co-operate with the British Army, and some of the carrier pigeons who had been in the service of the Haganah, were donated for fighting purposes.
[6] 98 pages.
21x16cm.
Condition: Good-Very Good. A small tear on the front cover and the first page.